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Date: July 11, 2021 Body of Water: Casco Bay, Falmouth, Maine Moon Phase: New Moon plus two days; waxing crescent Tides: Low Tide at 6:55 AM; High Tide at 1:11 PM (flood, throughout) Boat: amybaby22 With: Alone Target: Striped Bass Time: 7:45 AM - 12:15 PM Conditions: Hazy Sun, a breath of southerly breeze; about 70 degrees F; water temperatures 62 - 64 (Clapboard) and 59 - 60 (Hussey Sound); rising tide through-out Another day, another way; kind of. When mackerel once again proved to be scarce off Clapboard (although I picked up five in 45 minutes of effort, with a bit of luck), I relocated my striper efforts to Hussey Sound. I first visited College Island. While my first set of passes went untouched, my baits seemed nervous enough to warrant another. A large boulder on the island's northern mid-section produced a fat and spunky 25-incher at about 9:15 AM. I checked the developing rip off the west end of this island, where water drops quickly into 90 feet of water and more. Three passes with the current produced no macs, though, and so I zipped across to Great Diamond Island. I deployed baits near the rock-guarded sandy cove, and a smallish bass instantly ascended to intercept my largish bait. The bass never successfully ate this bait, but harassed it and smashed it on top until it played possum well enough to fool me. I replaced it with another livie and continued my hunt as I progressed along the eastern tip of Great Diamond. Nothing happed and so I recycled my baits into the live well and set up on new-to-me water; Crow Island. I've navigated past this dozens of times, but had never fished here. On closer inspection, it offered rocky points plunging into pretty deep water. With the incoming tide pushing against and along the rocks, I set my baits out again. Right beneath Marker 9 and the osprey living there, a bass smashed my largest mackerel on the surface over about 30 feet of water at about 10:15 AM. After a tense fight, I slid the net under my second "keepah" in two days; Crow had made a nice first impression. I was down to my last bait, and it only made sense to circle back and try to find another quality Crow Island striper. Nothing happened at my first waypoint, but I continued along with the current. A rocky point or two down the shoreline, in perhaps 18 feet of water, a 23-inch striper ate my last bait in the well. The next 30 or 40 minutes were spent trying to find more mackerel. I was lucky, again, to secure two; both of which were eaten by bass (just about simultaneously) along Clapboard's steep northeastern ledge. Unfortunately, the hook turned into the bait on each of these, and I never touched these two bass. I made another pass, casting a Hogy Original, but apparently these bass have no interest in artificials. What do I have to say about this? My first three chances had gone so smoothly; but reality returned with the final two misses. Such events are simply a cost associated with fishing these live baits, and a 60% conversion of bites to fish landed sounds about right. But the live mackerel do seem to lower the stripers' guard, because it has been difficult to garner bites otherwise, especially during bright mid-day conditions. And, there's no doubt, the macs are selecting for larger bass. I'll keep at it as long as they remain available. Pondering the questions of core essence and finding meaning in unexpected ways
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